JPH05105470A - Device for producing optical fiber preform - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To drastically shorten the producing time by vertically providing a soot blowing mechanism as a lower system and an upper system. CONSTITUTION:A lower soot blowing mechanism 2 and an upper soot blowing mechanism 3 are provided and moved in the axial direction of a target member 1 to blow and deposit soot. The lower mechanism 2 is formed with the soot blowing mechanisms 5 and 6 provided with a burner 4, the soot blowing mechanisms are moved (forward movement) from one end of the member 1 to the other end (from right end of member 1 in the figure to the left end) to blow soot, and then rapidly returned from the other end to the one end to repeat soot blowing (from left end of the member in the figure to the right end), and the process is repeated. The upper soot blowing mechanism 3 is provided with the soot blowing mechanisms 7 and 8 furnished with a burner 4 and used to deposit soot in the same way as the lower mechanism to produce an optical fiber preform.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an optical fiber preform manufacturing apparatus for forming an optical fiber preform by spraying and depositing soot on the outer peripheral surface of the rod-shaped target member while moving along the axial direction. It is a thing.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art For example, the following method of manufacturing an optical fiber preform is known. That is, in FIG. 6, both ends of the target member 100 are rotated while being held by a glass lathe or the like, and soot (glass fine particles) is provided around the target member 100.
In order to attach the soot, the combustion burner 101 for synthesizing soot is used to burn around the target member 100, whereby soot (glass fine particles) generated in the flame of the burner 101 is attached and deposited. In other words, by introducing the glass raw material into the flame 102 of the burner 101 together with the combustion gas and the auxiliary combustion gas, a hydrolysis reaction or the like is caused in the flame 102, and soot (glass fine particles) such as SiO ₂ generated at this time is generated. ) Is deposited around the target member 100. In general, such soot deposition is performed by using a predetermined device (hereinafter referred to as an optical fiber preform manufacturing device), that is, a large number of burners 102 are arranged in the axial direction of the target member 100. The traverse is performed once, and a soot (glass fine particle) deposition layer 103 is formed for each traverse.

[0003]

However, in such a manufacturing apparatus, since one burner is used and this is reciprocated many times, the deposition efficiency is extremely poor, and It takes a long time to work. Therefore, in view of the above-mentioned conventional defects, an object of the present invention is to provide an optical fiber preform manufacturing apparatus capable of manufacturing an optical fiber preform with good work efficiency in a short time.

[0004]

That is, according to the present invention, there is provided a traveling body which moves along the axial direction of a rod-shaped target member, and a burner which is provided on the traveling body and which advances and retreats in the radial direction of the target member. It has a soot spraying mechanism,
An optical fiber preform manufacturing apparatus for manufacturing an optical fiber preform by attaching and depositing soot on a target member by the burner, wherein one end to the other end of the target member while spraying the soot toward the target member. After reaching the other end, when it retreats after reaching the other end, it moves upward and downward respectively and returns to one end of the target member, and from this one end, an upper soot blowing mechanism and a lower soot blowing mechanism are provided to repeat the same operation again. , The burner of each of the upper and lower soot spraying mechanisms is attached to the target member at different angles, and the return motion of returning from one end to the other end of the target member by each traveling body is returned to one end. The burner on the traveling body is retracted to a predetermined position with respect to the target member during the returning operation. It is obtained by configured to.

[0005]

The apparatus for producing an optical fiber preform of the present invention has soot spraying mechanisms of a lower and an upper that reciprocate along a target member, which are sequentially arranged from one end to the other end of the target member. After moving the soot while moving and moving to the other end and returning to the original end at high speed, repeating the same operation from that one end again, it is possible to manufacture the optical fiber preform extremely quickly and efficiently. it can.

[0006]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings. FIG. 1 shows an apparatus for manufacturing an optical fiber preform according to the present invention. This manufacturing apparatus sprays and deposits soot (not shown) on a target member 1 while moving in the axial direction thereof. A lower soot spraying mechanism 2 and an upper soot spraying mechanism 3 are provided. The lower soot spraying mechanism 2 is composed of a first soot spraying mechanism 5 and a second soot spraying mechanism 6 each having a burner 4, and these soot spraying mechanisms extend from one end to the other end of the target member 1 (see FIG. 1. While moving (from the right end to the left end of the same member 1) (hereinafter referred to as the forward operation) while spraying a soot, the next soot spraying operation is repeated, so the other end to one end (from the left end to the right end in the figure). ) It is designed to return at high speed (hereinafter referred to as "return operation").

The first soot blowing mechanism 5 includes a traveling body 5a which moves on the floor side in a direction (± X direction) parallel to the axis of the target member 1 in FIG. Lifting body 5b that moves in the ± Z direction) and lifting body 5
A moving body 5c, which is provided on the upper part of b so as to be able to move back and forth toward the target member 1 and carries the burner 4, and a traveling body 5a.
X moving means (not shown) for moving the moving body 5b, Z moving means (not shown) for moving the moving body 5b up and down, and Y moving means (not shown) for moving the moving body 5c back and forth. The X moving means operates when the traveling body 5a reciprocates, and
The moving means is to move the moving body 5c backward in accordance with the growth of the target member 1 in which the soot is deposited and the radius of which increases, and in this embodiment, the rack and pinion mechanism is used. Further, the Z elevating means is a burner 4 and a burner 4 provided in both soot blowing mechanisms 5 and 6 when the second soot blowing mechanism 6 passes the second soot blowing mechanism 6 during the forward movement of blowing the soot. In order to prevent the moving bodies from contacting and colliding with each other, the elevating body 5b on the first soot blowing mechanism 5 side is lowered to a certain height.
Similarly, a rack and pinion mechanism is used. The second soot spraying mechanism 6 has the same structure as the first soot spraying mechanism 5, but especially the moving body 6c above the lifting body 6b.
Are configured so that they can be greatly advanced toward the target member 1.

Further, the burners 4 provided in each of the soot blowing mechanisms are not limited to those always directed in the horizontal direction (Y direction) as shown in FIG. 3, but each burner 4'as shown in FIG. 4 for example. They may be mounted at different angles. The upper system soot spraying mechanism 3 includes a burner 4
It is composed of a third soot spraying mechanism 7 and a fourth soot spraying mechanism 8 provided with a soot, and a forward operation of spraying and depositing soot on the target member 1 in the same direction as that of the lower system, and returning to the original at a high speed. The backward movement to prepare for the forward movement is sequentially performed, that is, instead of so as not to collide with the first and second soot blowing mechanisms 5 and 6. The third soot spraying mechanism 7 has a structure similar to that of the first soot spraying mechanism 5 in FIG.
Reference character a is movably installed in a groove (not shown) of the frame 10 supported by the support column 9 in a direction parallel to the axis of the target member 1 (± X direction). The fourth soot blowing mechanism 8 also has the same structure as the second soot blowing mechanism 6, and the traveling body 8a is movably installed in the groove of the frame 10.

Next, the operation of this embodiment will be described. As shown in FIG. 5, the first to fourth soot spraying mechanisms 5 to 8 sequentially deposit and deposit soot while translating from the right end to the left end along the axial direction of the rotating target member 1. . Then, the soot blowing mechanism (the first one 5 in FIG. 5) that has moved to the left end temporarily stops its movement, and then the moving body 5c moves backward (−Y direction) by a certain amount on the traveling body 5a. At the same time, the lifting body 5b moves downward (-Z
Direction) (upward in the case of upper system), with a certain amount of downward descent, it moves back to the right end at high speed. In this way, the soot spraying mechanisms 5 to 8 that have returned to the right end repeat the same soot spraying operation again. In this embodiment, each soot blowing mechanism provided with a burner is provided in each of the upper and lower two systems, but the present invention is not particularly limited to this, and a configuration having three or more systems is also possible. Good.

[0010]

As described above, according to the optical fiber preform manufacturing apparatus of the present invention, the soot spraying mechanism having the burner for spraying and depositing the soot on the target member is vertically moved. Since it is provided as a lower system and an upper system, respectively, it is possible to spray the soot extremely reasonably and efficiently, in other words, it is possible to dramatically reduce the manufacturing time of the optical fiber preform, and to achieve high performance. Can be provided.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a front view showing an optical fiber preform manufacturing apparatus according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a side view showing the device.

FIG. 3 is an enlarged view of a main part of the device.

FIG. 4 is an enlarged view of a main part showing a modified example of the device.

FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram showing an operation of the apparatus.

FIG. 6 is an explanatory view showing a conventional apparatus for manufacturing an optical fiber preform.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Target member 5a, 6a, 7a, 8a Running body 4, 4'burner 2 Upper soot spraying mechanism 3 Lower soot spraying mechanism 5-8 (1st-4th) Soot spraying mechanism

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A running body (5a, 6a, 7a, 8a) moving along the axial direction of a rod-shaped target member (1) and a burner (4. 4 ′) and a soot spraying mechanism, and an apparatus for producing an optical fiber preform for producing an optical fiber preform by attaching and depositing soot on the target member (1) by the burner (4.4 ′). While moving the target member (1) from one end to the other end while spraying the soot toward the target member (1), when the target member (1) reaches the other end and moves backward, the target member (1) moves upward and downward respectively. The upper soot spraying mechanism (2) and the lower soot spraying mechanism (3) that return to one end of the target member (1) and repeat the same operation again from this one end
Is provided for each of the upper system and lower system soot spraying mechanisms (2.
The burners (4, 4 ') of 3) are attached to the target member (1) at different angles, respectively, from one end to the other end of the target member (1) by the traveling bodies (5a, 6a, 7a, 8a). The returning movement returning to one end is performed at a higher speed than the forward movement of the moving body, and during the returning movement, the burner (4, 4 ') on the traveling body (5a, 6a, 7a, 8a) is used as the target member. An apparatus for manufacturing an optical fiber preform, which is configured to retract to a predetermined position with respect to (1).